LITERARY NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1956, 20 August 1891, Page 34

LITERARY NOTES.

The Rev. J. Julian, of Wincobank, Sheffield, has just presented his famous hyinnological collection, including many original manuscripts, and valued at £3000, to the Church House Library.

The well-known song, " I will be Vicar of Bray," was written by an officer of Colonel Fuller's regiment. The vicar lived in the reigns of Charles 11, James 11, William 111, Ann, and George I, The Ladder is to be called The Twentieth Century from the June number, Mr Knowles, the owner of the Nineteenth Century, can hardly claim any right to keep the title in reserve till the time arrives when his own would be an anachronism and he might wish to adopt the other. A Scotch writer gives a list of instances which tend to prove that that his countrymen are willing to Fuffer great extremity fqr Learning. He mentions one young man at Edinburgh University who, though of fine manners and aristocratic appearance, dined but three times a week, and then upon a hot twopenny pie. The family of Senora Llanos, sister of the poet Keats, have just presented $2 of their

• uncle's letters to their mother to the trustees of the British Museum. The gift is one of great value, and the letters themselves are of exceptional interest as among the brightest and pleasantest of all Keats' letters.

Mr Marion Crawford has been awarded a prize of lOOOfr by the French Academy as an acknowledgment of the merit of his novels, and especially of two of them — " Zoroaster " and "Marzis' Crucifix" — which were written in French as well as in Engiish.

Sir James Stephen avails himself of his newly-acquired leisure to lead off in the Nineteenth Century for June .with a vigorous denunciation of the recent antiopium resolution in the House of Commons. Opium, he, maintains, is far less injurious than alcohol, and it was well for Coleridge that he took to Opium instead of spirits.

Professor Max Muller is true to his old love. "Sanskrit," he writes, in the Nineteenth Century, " has an immense advantage over all the other ancient languages of the East. It is so attractive, and h?s been so widely admired, it almost seems at times to excite a certain amount of feminine jealousy. We are ourselves Indo-Europeans. In a certain sense we are still thinking and speaking Sanskrit ; or, more correctly, Sanskrit is like a dear aunt to us ; she takes the place of a mother who is no more."

A Yale student recently handed in a paper to his professor, and was surprised the next day to have it returned with a note scrawled on the margin. He studied it diligently, but was unable to decipher the note, so he brought his paper back to the professor. " I can't quite make out what tbatjs, if you please," said the student. " That, sir," said the professor, " why, that says, • I cannot read your handwriting.' You write illegibly, sir ! "

Mr Justin M'Carthy, M.P., finds time from his duties as leader of the anti-Parnellite party to write articles for Black and White. In a late number he explains the case of Captain Verney as a case of Dr Jekylf and Mr Hyde in real life, and makes the rather trite remark that no novelist dare rise to the high level of realities — no English novelist, we presume — because he would feel dismally convinced that the critics and the public would say that it never could have happened. Some fictions seem, however, to have gathered round Captain Verney, among others the statements that he was in any way connected wiiih the Vigilance Society.

It has been decided to erect at Ledbury — a town closely connected with the childhood of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and in the churchyard of which many of the members of the Barrett family lie buried — a monument to her memory. It will consist of a brick tower, with stone copings, about 120 ft high ; a large clock will ornament one side. In a niche below will be placed the bronze bust of Mrs Browning, wth an inscription in gold letters, recording her connection with Ledbury. Above the bust will run a quotation from " Aurora Leigh." The monument is to stand in the market place. Writing recently to a young author, M. Alexandre Dumas fils says that French fiction is about to undergo a change for the better, and advises him to work out in his novels the theory of individual progress by the subjugation of self and by the sacrifice of low sensations and ephemeral sentimentality in the interest of suffering human nature. A reaction, he feels, will soon be effected against " the eternal portraiture of wickedness "; literature is useless without an ideal, and posterity will only preserve the works of those who have had in view constantly the moral purification and bettering of humanity. The future generation will want some spiritual ideal to lift them out of the mire.

One of the most noticeable books of the season is Mr J. H. Pearce's Cornish story of "Esther Pentreath." It is strongly marked with originality; its sketches of Cornish scenery (in that extreme western peninsula which the Atlantic washes with stormy waters) are vigorous, and vigorous also are its portraits of Cornish men and women tied up in an atmosphere of Methodism, and vivified ever and anon by revivalist visitations. Mr Pearce should have a future before him ; but he must conquer his bad habit of slipping into metrical prose. Metre is one thing and prose another; the two will not pair— they agree together as badly as Mr and Mrs Jackson of Clitheroe, and, like them, are best apart.

Although the " Life of Archbishop Tait," which is being eagerly read at Home, does not contain a lot of tittle-tattle, or stories calculated to cause pain, it is full of interesting matter, and will give rise to much discussion. The fact that the Queen was opposed to the bill for the disestablishment of the Irish Church is quite new. She is to be congratulated on the wise counsel she gave. Recognising that the measure must pass sooner or later, she put aside her own convictions, and expressed her anxiety that the House of Lords should not throw it out. Her opinion has been justified by subsequent events, but her action in. the matter was that of a sovereign who f thoroughly understands the relations of 'the Crown to the people.

Colonists will be interested to learn that Mr Stead intends publishing a colonial edition of the Eeview of Reviews. An American edition has already been commenced under the editorship of Mr Albert Shaw. The colonial edition will consist of "the English Review with the addition of some sheets bringing the chronicle up to date, and dealing with more particularly Australian subjects." We presume "Australian "is a slip for Australasian, as New Zealand will no doubt receive its fair share of attention. The publication of a colonial edition should materially add to the circulation of the Review in the colonies, though whether the result will be commensurate with the extra cost entailed can only be demonstrated by actual experiment, We are, however, inclined to think it will not.